Albanese minister to fly to Israel to mend fractured relationship

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is preparing to travel to Israel within weeks in a bid to help mend the fractured relationship between the Albanese and Netanyahu governments.

Dreyfus, who is Jewish, is one of the strongest supporters of Israel in the Labor caucus and his planned trip would be the first by a government minister since Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited the Middle East almost a year ago.

Tensions between the two nations boiled over last month when Netanyahu accused the Albanese government of fomenting a rise in antisemitism in a fiery intervention just days after Australia’s ambassador to Israel was summoned by the nation’s foreign minister for a rare dressing down.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is regarded as one of the strongest supporters of Israel in the Labor caucus. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Dreyfus, one of Labor’s most senior ministers, planned to travel to Israel last year for the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack but had to cancel the trip when Iran launched missile strikes on the nation.

Local pro-Israel groups were angered that Wong did not visit a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7 during her trip, with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry describing the omission as “insulting and deeply concerning”.

Dreyfus is expected to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and other senior officials on the trip, during which he will emphasise the longstanding ties between Australia and Israel.

A spokesman for Dreyfus said the trip had not been finalised.

Dreyfus’ father and grandparents were Holocaust survivors who arrived in Melbourne after fleeing Nazi Germany.

Netanyahu used social media last month to claim that an arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne could not be separated from the “extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia”.

Netanyahu singled out the government for its decision to reverse Australia’s diplomatic position on Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories at the United Nations and to deny ex-Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked a visa on grounds she could threaten social cohesion.

“Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism,” he said.

Wong responded in a speech days later by saying: “It is not antisemitic to expect that Israel should comply with the international law that applies to all countries.

“Nor is it antisemitic to call for children and other civilians to be protected, or to call for a two-state solution that enables Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.”

Netanyahu’s post came after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called in Australia’s ambassador, Ralph King, for an official reprimand over the decision to deny Shaked a visa.

Sa’ar said the move was “based on baseless blood libels spread by the pro-Palestinian lobby in Australia, and it is a shame that a friendly country like Australia chose to base it on them instead of the long-standing friendship between the countries”.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said at the time that his department refused Shaked’s visa because of fears she would “seriously undermine social cohesion” while in Australia.

“Ms Shaked has said that all the Palestinians should leave Gaza. If somebody wanted to come here and had previously said that they had nominated specific cities in Israel and said they should be completely levelled, I wouldn’t give them a visa to come here and make speeches,” he said.

In a speech to parliament after the October 7 attacks, which killed some 1200 people in 2023, Dreyfus described Australia’s relationship with Israel as “deep and enduring” and defined by “a bond of true friendship”.

Dreyfus has argued that Labor has not committed to recognising a Palestinian state, even though the party’s platform says it is expected to be “an important priority” for the government.

“The only way an enduring and just two-state solution can be achieved is through a negotiated outcome between the two parties and, as Labor has long made clear, that requires recognition by the Palestinians of the rights of the people of Israel to live in peace within secure borders,” he wrote after Labor’s 2021 conference.

Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza since the October 7 attack has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.